Download the full analysis for all 2015 predictions and their market impact

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 6, 2015 — (PRNewswire) — The New Year brings with it not only new resolutions, but also updates and advances to our busy digital lifestyles. Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan predicts many changes in 2015 that will improve the way communications services enable the global digital economy. Specifically, the communications marketplace is set to experience a multi-dimensional transformation, based off of continual developments in consumer usage patterns, how mobile network technology is deployed and used, delivery of innovative service initiatives by the global communication service provider (CSP) community, and how multiple industries are now incorporating mobility services into their goods and services, just to name a few.

The new analysis, Stratecast Predictions 2015: The Year Ahead – and a Look Back, details 22 forecasted trends for the global communications marketplace in 2015 categorized into seven core areas including big data and analytics, business services, cloud, connected home, consumer services, the operations & monetization functions, and secure networking. In addition, the analysis includes a review of Stratecast's 2014 predictions, the majority of which proved to be accurate.

"Rising from the roots of Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, Margin Assurance is a business discipline focused on maximizing profits," said Karl Whitelock, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan Global Director – Operations and Monetization Strategy. "CSPs continue to see rising costs as network data volumes increase and as they engage in business models that include supplier partnerships. With minimal incremental revenue from new services just starting to launch, flattening revenues from traditional services, and increasing costs, the result is tightening margins. Using the right analytical tools with the right types of data, the Margin Assurance discipline in 2015 will become engrained in all major Operations and Monetization processes."

"Enterprises and cloud services providers have different ideas of what is meant by the overused term "hybrid cloud," said Lynda Stadtmueller, Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan Vice President – Cloud Services. "While providers have focused on interconnections between their own and their partners' cloud services, enterprises have made it clear they are looking to manage all their environments—hosted and on-premises, virtualized and physical, cloud and traditional—as a pool of resources, via a single management tool. Their wishes will be noted in 2015, as more cloud providers extend their platforms and APIs to include legacy environments."

Stratecast Predictions 2015: The Year Ahead – and a Look Back is part of a tailored Stratecast (
http://stratecast.frost.com) client engagement service. Subscribers of Stratecast receive a steady stream of forward-looking and detailed insights on market opportunities and industry trends based on a structured combination of demand- and supply-side research.

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Stratecast collaborates with our clients to reach smart business decisions in the rapidly evolving and hyper-competitive Information and Communications Technology markets. Leveraging a mix of action-oriented subscription research and customized consulting engagements, Stratecast delivers knowledge and perspective that is only attainable through years of real-world experience in an industry where customers are collaborators; today's partners are tomorrow's competitors; and agility and innovation are essential elements for success.

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